Graphics from the series "We Can Repeat" by Kuril Chto reference the aesthetics of Russian election campaigns, ironically borrowing the visual language of propaganda materials from the United Russia party, which has been represented by President Vladimir Putin for over 25 years.

This series addresses the concept of choice. In Russian, "elections" (выборы) and "choice" (выбор) share the same root, underscoring the idea that by voting, citizens choose the government and political course of the country, thereby shaping their own future. In his characteristic style, Kuril Chto combines the recognizable visual language of election posters and ballots with the image of a disabled soldier. This figure symbolizes the real future of a society where militaristic propaganda is increasingly prevalent.

Context

The series emerged in 2018 as the artist’s response to the ongoing militarization of Russian public consciousness by the current government.

"We Can Repeat" is a popular propaganda slogan under Putin's regime, referring to the USSR’s victory in World War II. This phrase reflects the persistent state policy of normalizing violence, a sentiment that was evident long before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The slogan embodies the ruling party's goal of militarizing mass consciousness and fostering a perception of a phantom "enemy" that must be resisted at all costs. Of course, the cost of war is the lives of those who fight it.

The work highlights the political climate in Russia at the time of the series' creation. Rather than reflecting on the tragedy and losses of World War II, the Russian government has shifted focus to the triumph of victory, annually investing large sums in celebrating Victory Day. May 9th has become an occasion for grand military parades in city centers, with mass marches and concerts across the country. In everyday life, car stickers with slogans like "We Can Repeat" or "To Berlin" have become more common. Meanwhile, the authorities enacted a law banning any comparisons of the USSR with Nazi Germany, effectively prohibiting alternative perspectives on the war and Soviet actions.

This obsession with revanchism contrasts sharply with the neglect and poverty in which elderly war veterans live, as the state fails to provide them with adequate living conditions. Surviving war participants receive low pensions, wait years for housing, and appear in the public eye only for TV reports that benefit official propaganda. Similarly, the Russian government has neglected veterans of other local wars, which Russia refers to as "operations" and "campaigns" in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia, etc.

Four years after the creation of the "We Can Repeat" series, crippled soldiers once again became a reality chosen for Russia by the current government.